Thoughts on the New NBA Season



WITH the new NBA season a week old, there have been a lot of surprises taking place on the floor.

The biggest news so far this young season is how the Los Angeles Lakers have gotten off to a bad start in the LeBron James era, losing three straight games including an overtime heartbreaker against the San Antonio Spurs in their most recent game.

Prior to the Spurs game, the Lakers also bowed to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets in a game that saw the ejection of Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo following a fight with Chris Paul during a heated moment in the fourth quarter.



The Lakers' bad start has led many to believe that it will be a struggle for them this season even with James on board. Against the Spurs, LeBron missed two free throws in the dying seconds of overtime that led to the game-winning shot by Patty Mills. Then LeBron missed a long jumper at the buzzer that sealed the Lakers' loss.

In fairness to LeBron, the Lakers are still a flawed team in the sense that they lack outside shooters and a backup big man who can help JaVale McGee inside the shaded lane. Many NBA experts predict that they will be lucky to make even the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with the lineup that they have now.

On the other side of the spectrum, many are surprised over the unbeaten starts of the Denver Nuggets and New Orleans Pelicans. The Nuggets have won four straight games primarily due to defense, limiting the defending champion Golden State Warriors to 98 points in a two-point home win. On the other hand, the Pelicans have shown that they have moved on from DeMarcus Cousins leaving for GSW, winning three straight games primarily due to the strong inside game of Anthony Davis.



Over in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors have been undefeated under their new head coaches. Dwayne Casey -- the former Toronto coach -- has instilled a winning culture for the Pistons who are enjoying a fine season from former LA Clipper Blake Griffin. The Raptors, meantime, haven't really missed a beat even with new coach Nick Nurse calling the shots and Kawhi Leonard showing flashes of his old San Antonio Spurs form.

Some of the favorites like the Warriors and Boston Celtics are still struggling at the start of the season but expect them to get their groove as the games progress.

The Cleveland Cavaliers? Well, without LeBron, it will be hard times ahead in Ohio. Kevin Love was signed to a multi-million dollar extension but it will take at least two to three years before the Cavs can think of being NBA champs again.

NBA fans have also seen how games have become more high-scoring as a result of a new rule introduced by the league where the shot clock is reset to just 14 seconds on an offensive rebound. That rule was first implemented by the FIBA and the PBA so it will take some time before the NBA players get used to this new rule before they play in the FIBA World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.

Hang in there. It will be a roller-coaster ride in the NBA this season.


Location: El Sobrante, CA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The NFL on Philippine TV

Image
THE National Football League will finally have a Philippine TV carrier this season. A day ago, TV5 announced in its social media sites that it will air one NFL game every Monday, Tuesday and Friday live at 8 am with replays over its sister cable channel Hyper for Cignal subscribers. NFL games have been irregularly televised in the Philippines because obviously, many Pinoys don't understand the rules of American football. Previously, ABS-CBN tried airing the NFL on its defunct Studio 23 but the games didn't catch on with many viewers. And now, TV5 is gambling on the NFL as it tries to keep pace with ABS-CBN's Sports+Action 23 which airs the NBA, UAAP and NCAA games. Under TV5's schedule, the following NFL games will be televised: Monday mornings (Sunday Night Football on NBC) Tuesday mornings (Monday Night Football on ESPN) Friday mornings (Thursday Night Football on NFL Network) The Sunday morning, US time, games will not be televised on TV5 since the...
Read more

More Troubles at RX

Image
Photo of Gino Quillamor's tweet to Chico Garcia that led to Gino leaving RX. ANOTHER major blow has struck Monster RX 93.1 with the departure of Gino Quillamor from the morning show The Morning Rush. Quillamor left the show last week after being with Chico Garcia and Delamar Arias for close to a decade. Since then, he has not intimated of any plans to join another FM radio station. Earlier, Arias retired from RX in January this year to focus on marriage and motherhood. She resurfaced on Magic 89.9 to host the weekly show The Mother Show on Friday Madness mornings with Andi Manzano and Riki Flores. Quillamor and Arias's departures from RX have further weakened the station's lineup of DJs. In a previous post, other RX jocks have also left due to various reasons, such as recently married couple Andre Co and Cerah Hernandez, Jay Abastillas, Jinri Park, Sel Guevara, Carla Lizardo, Chris Schneider and Karen Bordador, who still remains in jail due to drug charges. As ...
Read more

The Slow Death of Magazines in the Philippines

Image
IN a sudden move that caught many people by surprise, Summit Media announced that it was shutting down its magazine division. Affected by the closure were the popular magazines FHM, Cosmopolitan and Yes, all of whom were leading in terms of circulation. In a statement, the Gokongwei-owned company announced that it would shift to digital media which explained why it had to close down its magazine division. As a result, FHM and Cosmo both ended up online through their respective websites, plus their respective social media accounts. Summit also owns other websites such as Philippine Entertainment Portal, which provides showbiz updates; and Spin.ph, which is a standalone sports website. Actually, a similar sports website, philsports.net, came out in the early 2000s and yours truly was one of the writers but it failed to catch on because at that time, internet wasn't easily accessible. Both FHM and Cosmo were at the height of their popularity when they both closed do...
Read more